Eye On Real Estate

By Lore Croghan

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

How do these two far-flung places fit in the same sentence? When the name Alan Dixon connects them.

In 2001, Dixon started working in that Australian city at Dixon Advisory, a big wealth management firm his father Daryl founded.

Now the younger Aussie is busily directing brownstone buys in Bedford-Stuyvesant as CEO of the firm's metro New York unit, Dixon Advisory USA — including some purchases that haven't gotten press coverage. See related stories.

The neighborhood — whose brownstones are hotly sought-after by would-be residents, flippers and investors — is a key focus of Brooklyn buys made for the US Masters Residential Property Fund.

As of June, the fund had closed on 29 purchases in the neighborhood, Brownstoner.com reported.

Far-flung purchases from 185 Hart St. to 196 Hancock St. are assets in the real estate investment trust, which is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and sticks to metro-area housing purchases.

There are dozens of Brooklyn assets in other neighborhoods, too, including Bushwick, Crown Heights and Brooklyn Heights — where the fund bought 72 Middagh St. from Debra LaChance for $3.175 million last year, city Finance Department records indicate.

Many of the non-Brooklyn properties in the fund are in Hudson County, N.J. There are also homes in Harlem and in Queens neighborhoods.

The strategy is buy and hold, renovate and rent, for the near future, at least.

The fund from the Land Down Under will keep properties for at least five years, “as required by the tax agreement between Australia and the U.S.,” Brownstoner.com reported.

Alan Dixon, whose office is in Jersey City, didn't respond to an interview request by deadline.

Town, the brokerage handling local leasing, is going after some big rent numbers in Bed-Stuy.

The five-bedroom, single-family brownstone at 22 Arlington Place is priced at $10,995 per month — which is what the brokerage calculates the tenant will actually pay because the first month of a one-year lease will be rent-free. The gross monthly rent is $11,995, Town's website indicates.

The exterior is charming, as we noticed on a recent visit. Inside, there are original hardwood floors and pocket doors and upscale touches like white Italian marble in the bathrooms, Town's website notes.

Will prospective tenants who'd write rent checks of almost 12 grand a month mind that an unglamorous stretch of Fulton Street, full of busy vehicular traffic, is just steps away?

To be sure, nearby 1215 Fulton St., the historic Slave Theater, is slated for restoration and residential development, as Eye on Real Estate recently reported. But renovation and construction won't happen overnight.

By the way, the Dixon-managed fund bought 22 Arlington Place for $2.25 million from 22 Arlington Place LLC and 22 Arlington Place II LLC, with Israel Glazer and Adam Cohen signing the deed for the sellers, city Finance Department records indicate.

The fund also owns nearby 18 Arlington Place, where brokerage firm Town has hung its sign.

A purchasing entity called Newtown Jets LLC bought the brownstone in June 2013 from Victor Cotto and Geraldine Pickett for $1.15 million, Finance Department records indicate.

August 6, 2014 - 10:25am

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